


Heartless

by KyeAbove



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Manipulation, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Gender Non-Conforming Hakuba Saguru, Gun Violence, Kuroba Kaito Is Dead, Kuroba Parent Bashing, Kuroba Touichi Lives, M/M, Magic, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rewrite, Slowburn Adoption, Swearing, Team as Family, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29070168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove
Summary: Eight years after Kaito's unsolved murder, the world of phantom theives is in a much different state.It's a now twenty-six year old Saguru behind the mask of Kaitou KID, using crime to track down clues to the death.Meanwhile, the newest thief on the street, a second Nightmare, is Kenta Connery, sixteen year old orphan with a grudge against KID. They have a more in common goal than they realize at first. Instead pitted against each other, it's a battle of the century between thieves.As usual when it comes to the current state of his life, Saguru is keen to blame Toichi for this.
Relationships: Hakuba Saguru & His Kids, Hakuba Saguru & Koizumi Akako, Hakuba Saguru & Nakamori Aoko, Hakuba Saguru/Original Male Character(s), Kenta Connery & Hakuba Saguru
Kudos: 8





	Heartless

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Somewhere In The Past](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23810977) by [KyeAbove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove). 



> So, Somewhere In The Past sort of fizzled out, yeah? I got too hyped on the attention I was getting from the fandom at the time that I was just coming up with things as I went along, and made choices I've come to regret. But now I have a more set plan and instead of trying to salvage Somewhere In The Past I'm just going to start fresh. This first chapter is a more polished rewrite/extra additions of the original first chapter since that is the one chapter I'm actually proud of, but from here things will diverge a little more.

Kenta had opted to avoid Japan for most of his life. He had lost his father and his entire worldview here. And yet still, he was going to Japan now for closure. Why hadn't he gone sooner? He had made his decision for himself, and he wasn't going to risk it again. No matter what he was going to say, all eyes were on him.

The streets and cities, however faint in his memories they were, had been too full of reminders. Even after he’d long since recuperated from his operation, he still stayed away. There was nothing for him here. Nothing but broken promises.

It was at least an attempt at healing, and that made him happy, to some extent.

Kenta felt ready, after ten years of trying to forget it all transpired. His life was taken from him, but at least he was beginning to realize that it was never his fault. His father had made choices that Kenta didn't agree with. Kenta had every right to be visiting a prison, telling a jailed father about life on the outside. He shouldn't have been talking to an urn. 

It was too close a feeling. The hope and doubt. Not only had he returned to Japan, he was going to confront the man who inadvertently led to his father’s death. Kenta knew his father was a criminal. That he was Nightmare. But he’d still been his father and his death hurt even now.

Kenta's thoughts whirled rapidly, but his eyes were focused on the sight ahead. He was at a KID heist, and they had just chased him out of the building. Or so the illusion seemed. Kenta knew better. 

He raced towards where he'd mapped out the staircase to the roof was. Kenta got himself into a Kaitou KID heist on account of lead of the Kaitou KID case these days. Nakamori Aoko remembered him from when he was young. He remembered her a little bit too. She remained as kind as she had been to him as a kid. He doubted she would be if she was aware of what he really wanted from tonight. He knew exactly what she was doing when she ordered the task force away from the roof.

So Kenta raced up to the roof, opening the door slowly, and peered out. Just as he suspected, Kaitou KID was there, his white outfit basked in moonlight, holding the recently stolen gem up to the sky. His hand was at his ear as he talked, possibly into a microphone. Kenta strained to hear it above the faint sounds of the crowd below. 

"...yeah I don't think this is the one Blue Bird. Any sign of Snake and his men?" KID spoke with friendliness and familiarity to whoever was on the other end of the line, and there was a smile to his words. KID lowered the gem from the moonlight and slipped it into his pocket. "You know, you could still bring it to me. The heist isn't quite over. They might have figured out I went to the roof-wait what?" KID's tone dropped and his stance went ridgid. 

Kenta dropped more inside the door. Had a threat to KID shown up? 

Then there was a flash of red in his eyes. Kenta squinted and covered his eyes with his hands. He lightly gasped upon just barely seeing the red dot hovering around his hand.

"Whoever's behind that door can come out now. I promise my friend won't hurt you." KID spoke loudly enough that Kenta heard it all clearly. The dot moved to Kenta's stomach as a clear threat to him instead. 

Not one to take a challenge lightly, Kenta slammed the door open. _“Fuck you KID!”_ Kenta pointed accusingly at the phantom that had ruined his life. KID turned his head slightly at the unfamiliar voice. There was visible confusion that Kenta could see the shudder of in the way his shoulders slumped. He twirled his body around to face Kenta and was certainly now curious.

KID studied Kenta with a piercing gaze even with the mask hiding his eyes. Although Kenta was sure there was never direct eye contact. He held up his hand to his ear “Blue Bird, it’s just a child and you know it. Stop pointing the gun at him.” and then all traces of the red dot disappeared. Kenta thought the KID would try to run away, but instead he walked a little closer, hands going into his pockets. “And here I’d believed the Task Force stopped letting in freelancers and children. Especially after what happened with Kuroba. Did you sneak in?" KID's voice was caught between bemusement and something close to fear. “What say you, detective?” 

"I'm not a detective. I just came here to talk with you, KID." Although if Kenta could lead to this man’s arrest, he could say he finally put the whole case at rest. Kenta felt it was unlikely that he could do what hundreds of others had failed at, but very few had a past like him.

"You need to tell us more about yourself, detective." KID proclaimed, Kenta shook his head with a shrug. 

“Don’t call me a detective.” He was miles away from one. 

"Yes, yes, of course, detective." KID replied in a sing-song contrary tone, his voice quiet, “You don't seem like the usual KID fan is all." KID’s voice switched fully to amusement, and that made something inside Kenta snap. 

"I'm nowhere near a fan of you!” Kenta stepped forward and snarled. KID physically recoiled. “I came here for your confession, not your bullshit."

KID recollected himself and laughed. "My confession? I’m not just going to tell some random detective I just met my secret identity. Now if that’s all, run along." KID made a dismissive hand wave and turned to leave. 

Kenta lowered his voice as his breath caught in his throat. The memories of that day were returning full force, and he hated every moment of it. "You were there when my father died."

Movement faltering, KID hummed in thought. “I was?” KID’s voice dropped, and he tilted his head slightly in thought. “When?” He looked in Kenta’s direction once more, as if daring him to lie. 

“Ten years ago, you let my father fall to the ground.” Tears welled up in Kenta’s eyes. He wiped them away, refusing to cry in front of KID. “I was just a child, and he may have been Nightmare, but he was still-”

KID’s breath hitched in his throat, and he jumped away from Kenta. “You’re Kenta Connery?!” KID stepped back sharply, swearing in English under his breath, and then pulling the gem out and throwing it at Kenta. It lightly grazed his cheek but over all didn’t leave much of a mark.“Take it. I should go.”

Instead Kenta growled, insulted by the cowardice. He rushed forward and grabbed onto KID’s sleeve. _“NO! TELL ME WHY YOU LET MY DAD DIE!”_ He pushed KID, and managed to catch him off guard and get him on the ground. His hands went right for KID’s mask. He took it off, expecting an old man still somehow in his prime. KID was a decades old tale, so the face was surely to match. 

And now Kenta was staring at panicked heterochromic eyes, one the blue that most assumed KID's eyes were from some past interactions with him, and the other, brown. KID had never been reported as having brown eyes. Nor was it that likely KID, as old as the myth of him was, would seem not even thirty. KID was blond too, although Kenta only guessed that from the fact that KID had a blond beard. The rest of his hair was hidden under what must have been a wig.

“Who the hell are you?” Kenta demanded to know, suspecting things were very wrong. “You’re not old, so you can’t be KID."

“I am in fact Kaitou KID….the third one.” KID revealed in a soft voice, turning his head away from Kenta. He appeared to have decided not to fight Kenta. 

“Third?” No reports Kenta had read ever suggested that there was a successor, let alone two. But hadn’t there been that eight year gap? Theories swarmed in Kenta’s head even as he tried to be focused on this task at hand. 

KID grimaced, and he took a deep breath. "The second KID...the previous KID, he was the one involved in the Nightmare case. That KID died years ago. I’m so sorry."

Startled, Kenta jumped back, getting off of KID. “No...” All this effort to return, and it was for nothing?

Sitting back up, KID sat crossed legged in front of Kenta. “Your father’s death was an accident. I may not have been the one who was KID when he died, but I know as much as that.”

Kenta snorted. “Oh, really…” 

The wind blew around them as they refused to make eye contact but still stared each other down in other ways. The night was crisp, and both their hearts were heavy with grief. KID was the one to break the silence.

“The previous KID...he did try to save him. He held on to your father as long as he could, but...Kenta…” KID flexed his hand, and then dared to rest his hand on Kenta’s shoulder. When Kenta didn’t flinch or move to push the hand away, KID kept it there and continued. “Your father was a grown man, the previous KID was just a child. He couldn’t support his weight long enough before help could arrive. But he tried all he could, even though your father had been fully set on killing him.” KID spoke with confidence, and Kenta almost wanted to believe him. 

“The previous KID was only a child? I find that hard to believe.” Kenta was not going to blindly believe a stranger. Even one who he suspected really was telling the truth at least about not being the KID who was there from his father’s death. 

"The first KID was his father. He was only sixteen when he became KID. He was …an amazing person. I was too stubborn to admit it when he was still alive, but I miss him. He was my friend and his death still affects me negatively to this day."

“Even though he was a criminal?”

“Yes.” KID nodded. “I assume you feel similar about your father.”

Kenta knew what KID was doing, but found himself not caring. This was the only person who seemed to understand what it was like to care about someone despite their actions. “He was my dad. He didn’t have much time for me. I realized later that was because he was working so hard to save me. He was willing to give up everything just to save my life.” 

And he had. His father had given his life chasing a better life for Kenta. The lineage of KIDs couldn’t have had anywhere close to a noble reasoning. 

“Then isn’t it enough that he loved you?” 

“Huh?” 

“He loved you that much and still you’re here trying to get an answer out of me. Chasing after the ghosts of the past only makes you more miserable. Take that from me.” KID looked up, towards the moon. “But for me it’s too late to take back my choice to chase moonlight.”

In the moonlight, Kenta saw not a thief, a criminal, but a broken man missing someone who wasn’t coming back. 

“...he really did try to save my dad?” Kenta asked, wanting to know a little more about the man who he’d grown up hating. KID looked back at Kenta. 

“He did. He saved you too.”

Kenta had never heard that line before. “Really?” There wasn’t a moment in his childhood he could remember KID ever saving him.

“Your father had his mask on when he fell. The previous KID removed it just before you showed up to save you the horror of finding a criminal. Instead of your father.” That had been true. His father had been maskless when he had found him even though later reports he’d read reported Nightmare with the mask on when going into the building. It had certainly been better finding out his father was a criminal from trained professionals, rather than in a traumatic experience. “Then the pure publicity of the crime had the needed remaining costs for your operation come in through donations, from KID fans who heard of you.”

“...nobody ever told me that’s where the last of the money came from.” It was a comfort now to know so many people had wanted him to live. 

“It’s all true.” KID then took his mask back from Kenta, and Kenta didn’t resist. KID put his mask back on, and Kenta made no move to stop KID from getting up. “But if it makes you feel better, if I ever complete my own goal that led me to become Kaitou KID, I will turn myself in with you, and then your father’s death may finally have a resolution.”

“But-”

KID then started walking away. “I hope to see you around, Tantei-kun.” KID then opened up his glider, and dashed off, flying away from the roof. 

Kenta watched him leave, but while he now had even more questions than he started with, he did feel a lot more peace. 


End file.
